Rationale #459

In case anyone is wondering what is the latest rationale for the war in Iraq, Nicole Devenish, whitehouse spokesperson just said that we are “laying the foundation for peace.”

Isn’t that great? Why didn’t we think of it before? That could serve as a catch-all rationale for any war in history — and it can be used by either side. “The Emperor of Japan may have been a little bit ambitious when he had his navy bomb Pearl Harbor, but he should be given credit for laying the foundations for peace.”

I finding it hard to believe, but this ridiculous notion of David Ignatius’— that we will be successful if things turn out ok in 30 years seems to be catching on. On Hardball they were busily comparing George Bush to Harry Truman — because Truman was unpopular while he was re-building Europe and Japan and we all know that Truman was considered to be a great president decades later. Of course he hadn’t unilaterally started WWII with a bogus rationale, but that’s just a niggling detail.

So we can assume that Junior will be seen as a great president someday just like old Give “Em Hell Harry. He was plainspoken too, don’t you know. (Nobody seems to notice the eery resemblance between Bush and his fellow Texan, Lyndon Johnson, however.)

It would seem that in this one unique instance the government is taking the long view. We don’t know when there will be peace — why, it could take years and years. But we know that when Iraq does achieve it, they will have George W. Bush to thank for it. Praise be.

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